Porcelain Doll
by koolgirl1120
Summary: Prompt fic - Sitting At A Coffee Shop With Captain America universe. Between chapters 16 and 17. What if, when Tania blew up in the Avengers' faces that day after the mall, Pepper blew up right back? On the way back to her room, Tania is followed by Pepper, who is angry at being treated so horribly (among her friends as well) in the hallway. Cat fight with heavy swearing/angst.


**A/N. Hi! So here's the onehsot requested by my 200th reviewer of HCWSR (xxdreamloverxx). It takes place inside SAACSWCA after Tania gets mugged and blows up in the Avengers' faces and before she apologizes. If you haven't read that then this won't make sense. Just FYI. Enjoy! :D**

**Disclaimer - I don't own the Avengers.**

When the doors opened, Tania stepped onto her floor and ran to her room. She almost rammed straight into the door when it didn't open fast enough for her but managed to stop just shy of touching her nose against it. She flew inside and could already feel the tears prickling the corners of her eyes. She sobbed once.

Books. She needed her books. They always helped to distract her from her life, her problems. Surely they would work this time. She strode out of her bedroom with a purpose – only to crash into one Pepper Potts.

"Oh I'm-" she didn't know why she hesitated, but for some reason she did. She forced herself to say it anyway. "I'm sorry."

Pepper's eyes were red-rimmed and her mascara was running but she was leveling the brunette with a glare that could move the Earth. She stepped back so that there was a good deal of distance between the two of them and placed both hands on her hips, looking up slightly at her employee.

"Miss Banks, I've overridden any orders you may have given Jarvis to come up here and tell you that you're behaviour just now was unacceptable." She was obviously referring to the fact that Tania had just blown up in front of all the Avengers.

She winced but pretended that it didn't happen. "Well _Miss Potts_," she started, emphasizing the formality, "the Avengers should have minded their own business." She felt defensive. Defensive was never a good thing. Defensive usually meant that you said things you didn't mean, said things you couldn't take back, or said things that hurt those you cared about. Defensive also meant that you usually couldn't stop your mouth from running off on its own without your brain's permission or filter. She could already tell that this was not going to end well.

"That does not warrant you treating us like shit!" Pepper shouted, raising her arms at the last word. She was angry, it was very easy to tell. An angry Pepper Potts was something Tony had told her should always be feared. She knew that the red head rarely cursed, but when she did, it was when she was in a foul mood.

… fuck. "Listen-"

"No! YOU listen! I will not tolerate that kind of unreasonable behaviour in my own home! Not to mention that you are mine and Tony's employee and have no right to treat us in such a way! We could fire you at a moment's notice, you know!"

Tania's fear came back in tidal waves. Would they really fire her? Would they kick her out too? She could feel the pallor of her skin getting whiter and the blood in her veins rapidly cooling. It was not a pleasant feeling.

Pepper continued, seemingly not noticing that Tania looked like she was about to have a panic attack. "What I and everyone else in that room was doing was looking out for you! We have been nothing but nice to you and this is how you repay us? By pushing us away when you need help-"

"I don't need your help!" she exploded. "I am NOT broken! I'm not some damsel in distress who needs to be saved by the super heroes, okay? I have a little bit of a dark past but that doesn't mean that I need protecting! I can take a fucking punch! Why are you all ambushing me about something that should be forgotten?"

"It can't be easily forgotten when there's a bruise the size of Texas covering your face!"

"Why would you even care?"

"Because you're my friend! You're OUR friend, Tania! And friends care about each other. They look after each other. They-"

"I'm nothing more than an employee to you! That's it! I'm just the only female around besides Natasha that you can get attached to. So don't give me that bullshit-"

"It's not FUCKING BULLSHIT. God damn it Tania! You don't understand! We ALL have darkness in our pasts somewhere. They don't hold us back most of the time but when they do, that's when the others step in and bring them back to the light. But you're not letting us!"

"I'm not letting you because you're just going to fire me for this fight anyway!"

"WOULD YOU JUST SHUT UP FOR ONE SECOND? I am TRYING to tell you that you have people that care about you out there! People who WANT to protect you because you mean something to them! Especially Steve."

The mention of him brought her up short. Her heart clenched painfully and her was throbbing. Her tears were cascading down her face freely but she was too involved in this argument, too deep to back down. Her defense mechanism had her pushing the envelope until she was certain that it would burst. Bursting it would be BAD. But she couldn't stop. It was like she was watching another video of her but couldn't press pause or rewind or fast forward. She was forced to watch as the closest relationship with a woman she might have ever been able to have was possibly rushed down the drain in minutes.

"I can take care of myself," she reiterated, quieter this time in the hopes of ending this horrible "conversation". If only Pepper could see how much she cared about the Avengers back. Maybe then she'd be able to forgive her.

"We know that! If we didn't know that, we'd be sending you to a hospital to get treatment and smothering you but we're NOT. Because we KNOW you can take care of yourself. The video itself was proof but you're going about this all wrong! You are being incredibly insensitive and ungrateful and frankly I can't believe you would so something like this."

The utter disappointment in her voice broke Tania like a sledge hammer to a piggy bank. Her heart fell to pieces around her but her blood boiled. She felt _insulted_ that this person who she had become so close to had just called her insensitive and ungrateful when she was just trying to protect herself and lick her wounds in peace. How DARE she? Her nostrils flared and she clenched her fists at her sides. "I am NEITHER of those things and you KNOW it! Bruce, Tony, and Clint… they were all ANGRY. And why? Because of me?"

"Because they care about you!"

"Well they have a funny way of showing it!"

"They're showing it in their protectiveness of you! And they weren't angry at you! They were angry at the mugger who clocked you! Don't you see? The Avengers and I consider you our friend."

"Tony doesn't seem to think so."

"Tony is Tony. If you haven't learned by now that he can be a total ass then you might as well just find somewhere else to live because you certainly won't fit in here."

That hurt more than Tania could ever explain. Of course she knew how much of a dick Tony could be. She'd known that even before she'd met him. But if he couldn't even call her a friend and then apologize for saying she wasn't, then what was she to him? Just some random employee he thought had good looks? What did Pepper think of her now that they'd had this… this… this row? Had her opinion of Tania changed drastically?

"I- I- I know he… I know." That was the best she could do. She held her breath to stop the sobs from completely destroying her in front of her boss. At least, she hoped she was still her boss. Despite everything, Tania didn't want to leave. She loved her job and she loved living here at the Tower. And now she might have ruined it forever.

"Tania," Pepper said with a low but meaningful tone, "we care about you. But if you don't let us in then you will never see that. We don't see you as some porcelain doll and we know you have a past that's a secret and that you can take care of yourself. But we're still here for you. If you can't see that then… then maybe… I don't know." She ran a hand along her hair and clutched at the strands for a few moments, staring at the wall beside her in the hallway as if contemplating something. She dropped her hand and sighed heavily. "Look, I'm sorry if I came off as harsh right now but… you need to see that what you just did was uncalled for and frankly kind of mean. I'm not saying you're a bad person, but you need to think about these things before you say or do something you might regret."

Silence filled the corridor as Tania replayed those words over and over in her head. Pepper sent her a look filled with the words, "Think about it" written all over it. She turned and walked away.

Tania listened to her heels click softly on the carpet before the elevator doors closed and she walked into her library and collapsed into a broken ball of sobs.

* * *

A few minutes before, in the lounge, where all the Avengers were still sorting through their respective emotions on what just happened, Tony walked around the couch toward the coffee table. "Jarvis, bring up the video feed of Banks' floor."

"Yes, sir."

Steve's head snapped up. "Camera? Stark you can't-!"

"Shut up Spangles, this is important." The three dimensional holographic feed popped up above the table. "Besides, who can resist a good cat fight?"

**A/N. So hopefully this helps some readers understand the fight better because I know it may have been confusing to some. I hope this also helps to better understand why the Avengers were so quick to forgive her.**

**Thank you to xxdreamloverxx for the prompt to see a more fiery side of Pepper Potts and I hope I did a good job with it :)**


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